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BACH: Solo Works for Marimba – Kuniko Kato-Linn

BACH: Solo Works for Marimba – Kuniko Kato-Linn

by | Aug 9, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

J.  S. BACH: Solo Works for Marimba – Kuniko Kato-Linn CKD 585 : 79:04, 78:21 (6/23/17) *****: A deeply felt and perfectly realized expression of Bach solo works on marimba. On the phylogenetic tree of musical instruments, in terms of sound production, the ancient marimba would be a low branch. Its massive limb juts out with no further developments, fundamental, but non-dynamic in its organizing principles. Its evolutionary equivalent in biology might be the turtle, changeless and serene in its formal perfection. While the dinosaurs demonstrated a baroque inventiveness in the areas of feather and beak with spectacular results, the turtle didn’t wish to press its luck, preferring to stay inside its shell, the very symbol of conservatism. So it has been with the marimba: it remains a piece of wood perched on a sounding device, hit with a stick. (The evolutionary relationship of the marimba to the vibraphone is a matter of debate.)   A hypothetical scenario of its origins comes readily to mind. By chance, a man hits a hollow log with a stick and then the larger log alongside with the stick in his other hand. Insight dawns as he arrives at the essential relation of sound […]

Franco DONATONI: Argot; Pierre BOULEZ: Anthèmes; Witold LUTASLAWSKI: Partita for violin and piano – Véronique Mathieu (vln.) /Jasmin Arakawa (p.) – Navona Records

Franco DONATONI: Argot; Pierre BOULEZ: Anthèmes; Witold LUTASLAWSKI: Partita for violin and piano – Véronique Mathieu (vln.) /Jasmin Arakawa (p.) – Navona Records

by | Jul 7, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

“Argot” = Franco DONATONI: Argot; Pierre BOULEZ: Anthèmes; Witold LUTASLAWSKI: Recitativo e Arioso; Subito for violin and piano; Partita for violin and piano – Véronique Mathieu, violin/Jasmin Arakawa, piano – Navona Records NV6105 [Distr. by Naxos] 45:17, (7/14/17) ***: Very impressive somewhat wild ride violin recital. Young Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu is an appreciable talent, as is her pianist (in the Lutaslawski), Jasmin Arakawa. Artistically and technically this is a very demanding and impressive program of modern violin music. The title work, Argot, by Franco Donatoni, is, interestingly, the most ‘traditional’ sounding work here. Donatoni is not nearly as well known as some of Italy’s other mid-century and post-war experimentalists; such as Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono and the somewhat later Luigi Dallapiccola. Yet, his music is bold and expressive. The two pieces that comprise Argot are partly a technical flourish and partly an almost ethnic sounding expression with bits of gypsy and folk-inspired ornamentation throughout. A lot of Donatoni’s orchestral music is very challenging but well worth exploring, incidentally. Boulez’ Anthèmes has gotten a bit of play and some other recorded performances these past twenty years. Written for Yehudi Menuhin in 1992, Athèmes uses a variety of extended techniques and […]

William WALTON: Violin Concerto, Partita & Hindemith Variations – Anthony Marwood (v.) / BBC Scottish Symph. Orch. / Martyn Brabbins (cond.) – Hyperion

William WALTON: Violin Concerto, Partita & Hindemith Variations – Anthony Marwood (v.) / BBC Scottish Symph. Orch. / Martyn Brabbins (cond.) – Hyperion

by | Jun 26, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

William WALTON: Violin Concerto, Partita & Hindemith Variations – Anthony Marwood (violin) / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Martyn Brabbins (conductor) – Hyperion CD CDA67986 – TT: 81:28 (6/30/17) ****: An excellent survey of Walton’s music, very well played and recorded Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra follow up their definitive account of the Walton symphonies with another fine disc of Walton. We are offered the Violin Concerto , originally written for Jascha Heifitz, and the rousing Spitfire Prelude and Fugue, based on one of his film scores. Along with that there is Walton’s fine Partita for Orchestra, and one of his most interesting works, Variations on a theme by Hindemith. Walton and Hindemith had a 40 year long relationship, and Hindemith was able to hear Walton’s musical tribute to him before he died in 1963. Walton was born to a musical family, was a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral at Oxford, and later studied at the university. He left Oxford without a degree, and from 1920 lived with the Sitwell family in London. The three Sitwells siblings, all budding poets, introduced him to many major musical and literary figures of the time, including Delius, Diaghilev, and T.S. Eliot. During […]

BACH: Italian Con.; Four Duets; Partita Nos. 1 & 3; Fantasia; Aria – Rafal Blechacz, p. – DGG

BACH: Italian Con.; Four Duets; Partita Nos. 1 & 3; Fantasia; Aria – Rafal Blechacz, p. – DGG

by | Apr 1, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Rafal Blechacz transfers his natural affinity for Chopin to the music of Chopin’s idol, Sebastian Bach. BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971; Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825; Four Duets, BWV 802-805; Fantasia and Fugue in a minor, BWV 944; Partita No. 3 in a minor, BWV 827; Jesus bleibet meine Freude (arr. Hess) BWV 147 – Rafal Blechacz, piano – DGG 479 5534, 65:54 (3/3/17) [Distr. by Universal] ****: Polish piano virtuoso Rafal Blechacz (b. 1985) transfers his penchant for Chopin to selected works by Bach that highlight the close relationship between the ancient harpsichord and modern keyboard sonority, insofar as Blechacz – following in the Glenn Gould tradition – means to impart lyrical clarity as the main ingredient in the Bach contrapuntal ethos. Blechacz has chosen particular works from Bach’s Clavier-Uebungen as his source, works collected in a series of four volumes, 1735-1741. Many of the pieces present dance music of varied national styles, as well as virtuoso works that display the capacity of the keyboard to imitate the manuals of the harpsichord or the deep sonority and spacious range of the organ. A fine example of Blechacz’s approach comes to us by way […]

BACH: The Partitas and French Suites – Richard Egarr – HM

BACH: The Partitas and French Suites – Richard Egarr – HM

by | Apr 1, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

BACH: The Partitas – Richard Egarr – Harmonia Mundi 907593. CD 1: 75:39, CD 2 79:20 (3/24/17) *****: BACH: The French Suites – Richard Egarr – Harmonia Mundi 907583, CD 1: 47:04, CD 2: 58:29 (5/27/16) ****1/2 : (Richard Egarr; harpsichord) Egarr continues his successful tour of the complete Bach solo repertory played on his fine Ruckers copy double-manual instrument. In recent years, Richard Egarr has somehow managed to balance his responsibilities as musical director of the Academy of Ancient Music with his ambitious project of recording the entire solo harpsichord repertory of J.S. Bach. These recordings have appeared as collections of the “little” works such as the 2004 “per cembalo solo…” on Harmonia Mundi, but more recently as double-CDs of the major suites. Under review here are two major installments which nearly complete the journey. Egarr has been loyal to his splendid instrument, a 1991 Joel Katzman copy of a 1638 Ruckers harpsichord. It is a massive double-register keyboard with a booming voice. It can rattle frightfully on some of the heavy ornamentation of a Bach Gigue, but it possesses an almost mystical side; the 8-ft single register has such a bell-like clarity, especially in the lyrical Sarabande, that […]

“Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BRAHMS” = Nada Loutfi, p. – MEII

“Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BRAHMS” = Nada Loutfi, p. – MEII

by | Aug 14, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

This all-Brahms recital by a Lebanese master reveals an artist with a real affinity for the composer’s style. “Nada in Hamburg with Johannes BRAHMS” = Variations on a Hungarian Theme, Op. 21, No. 2; Chaconne for Solo Violin (arr. left hand) from J.S. BACH: Partita No. 2; Chorales, Op. 122 No. 2: Schmuecke dich, o liebe Seele”; No. 4: “O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen”; No. 8: “Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen”; Piano Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1; Etude No. 6 for the Piano, Left Hand (after SCHUBERT) –  Nada Loutfi, p. – MEII, 64:33 [www.eugenemarlow.com] ****: Lebanese virtuoso Nada Loutfi emigrated from war-torn Beirut to Paris, where she won First Prize from the Paris Conservatory. Further study with Gyorgy Sebok at Indiana University further refined her style. She hosts and performs on her own radio program, “The Classical Hour,” on Crescenthillradio.com out of Louisville, Kentucky. This all-Brahms recital (performed on a Yamaha instrument) derives from a session at the TNT Studios 29 January 2016. Nada opens with the 1853 Variations on a Hungarian Song, a tune the violinist Eduard Remenyi gave to Brahms that consists of a mere eight bars. Typical of gypsy style, […]

Nelson Freire in BACH = Partita No. 4; Toccata; English Suite No. 3; Con. in d minor; Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; Prelude; Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Choral Preludes – Decca

Nelson Freire in BACH = Partita No. 4; Toccata; English Suite No. 3; Con. in d minor; Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; Prelude; Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Choral Preludes – Decca

by | Apr 10, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Nelson Freire brings his own concept to Bach; his playing exhibits flair and intelligent bravura in all parts. Nelson Freire in BACH =  Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828; Toccata in c minor, BWV 911; English Suite No. 3 in g minor, BWV 808; Concerto in d minor after Marcello – Adagio; Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in d minor, BWV 903; Ich ruf zu dir, Jesu Christ, BWV 639; Komm, Gott Schoepfer, helliger Geist, BWV 667; Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659; Prelude in b minor, BWV 535 (arr. Siloti); Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (arr. Hess) – Nelson Freire, piano – Decca 478 8449, 81:44 (3/4/16) [Distr. by Universal] ****:  Recorded in Harburg 17-21 August 2015, this all-Bach recital from Brazilian virtuoso Nelson Freire (b. 1944) certainly presents him as a crystalline executant of the Bach style, often achieving superbly fluent motion in the individual movements of suites and the fugue from the BWV 903.   I can imagine that detractors will pounce upon Freire as too much a Romantic acolyte of the Bach his mentor Guiomar Novaes embodied. But for those who admire the innate grace and ennobled tone of Freire’s renditions, pieces like the […]